Tilda Swinton's Emma (shown in red) shakes up her family's picture-perfect world in "I Am Love."

We’ve been fans of Tilda Swinton since her spectacular unraveling in front of George Clooney when she played a ruthless corporate executive caught in a web of lies in the 2007 thriller Michael Clayton. Now Swinton comes undone in the new Italian film I Am Love (lo sono l’amore) playing Emma, the repressed Russian-born wife of a rich Italian businessman who falls helplessly in love with her grown son’s best friend.

Though the setup is clichéd (a stiff, unemotional hubby vs. a soulful young lover), Swinton’s performance is fierce, and the backdrop — featuring the elegant architecture of Milan and the surrounding countryside — made us feel like we’d been on a brief and odd Italian holiday.

At first, we see Emma perfectly coifed and dressed in classic Italian chic, stepping out on the streets of Milan for her daily errands, wearing big sunglasses and carrying little pastel-colored shopping bags. All seems well in her high-class world, but not for long.

The first note of disorder: Emma learns that her college-age daughter has fallen in love with another woman. Though Emma keeps this news from her conservative husband, she herself is curiously accepting, in part because she sees how happy her daughter has become. But Emma’s close relationship with her son is the most complex and moving. At a large family birthday party, when he announces that he’s engaged to be married, he is also given control over the family business. At the same time, Emma becomes sexually attracted to his closest friend. Soon enough, they’re having passionate sex in some country weeds, with bees and bugs buzzing in the blazing sun.

While the plot lost our interest, the stunning 1930s classic modern house in which most of it unfolds held our fascination. Plates, napkins, furniture and art are all so modern and tasteful that we sensed the filmmaker’s obsessive ecstasy in décor details. Nothing is out of place.

It’s hardly surprising when Emma announces to her husband that she’s leaving. But in spite of the film’s weaknesses — including a score by John Adams that crashes in like an uninvited guest, with dramatic, almost comical crescendos unconnected to the story — Swinton’s portrayal of a middle-aged woman losing control and transforming into a wild, unconventional and much more sexual one as she heads out the door is worth the price of admission.

Swinton herself is known for being unconventional. She’s just come out with her own fragrance, Like This, which reportedly has notes of dirt and dog’s paw in it.

Do you have a favorite movie about a woman finding her true self? Let us know!

Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

Tags: British people, businessman, Emma, Entertainment/Culture, Film, George Clooney, John Adams, Mass media, Michael Clayton, Milan, Russia, ruthless corporate executive, Tilda Swinton